JP Updates: Speaker Mark-Viverito To Help Distribute Food For Needy On Rosh Hashanah At Masbia In Queens

Posted by Alexander Rapaport183sc on September 14, 2014

September 14, 2014 By Jacob Kornbluh

NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito will visit Tuesday afternoon Masbia Soup Kitchen in Rego Park, Queens, to prepare food and serve meals to hungry New Yorkers celebrating the Jewish New Year holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

The packages will contain “LEPESHKA” Bukharian Jewish round challah bread for Rosh-Hashanah, honey, raw chicken, carrots for Tzimmes and much more, according to Masbia head Alexander Rapaport.

In this year’s budget, the Council allocated $105,000 to Masbia, including a first time $25,000 from the Speaker’s fund for Masbia in Queens.

“The Council is proud to sponsor hunger-relief organizations such as Masbia across the 5 boroughs,” Speaker Mark-Viverito told JP in a written statement. “Masbia plays an especially crucial role in ensuring that all New Yorkers have access to meals that fit their dietary restrictions as one out of every eight New Yorkers keeps Kosher. I thank Masbia and my colleagues for their continued dedication to fighting hunger in New York City.”

Council Member Karen Koslowitz, who’ll join the Speaker this afternoon, added, “Masbia has proven to be an essential addition to the neighborhoods of Rego Park and Forest Hills. You can see lines of people waiting to get a nutritious, hot kosher meal. On Thursdays, packages of food are distributed to sustain needy residents over a weekend.”

Rapaport, on his part, thanked Speaker Mark-Viverito and the entire New York City Council for “making kosher emergency food a priority.”

“Beyond those who keep kosherr, the needs of New Yorkers in need is far different than most other places in the country,” he added.